Low Country Africana – 2010

March 20, 2010 Posted by robin in GA Ancestors

Luckie Takes Flight

Today we share the sad news that Luckie Daniels, Coordinator of Georgia Records, will be leaving us. It is for happy reasons, though: she has launched the Carnival of African American Genealogy and the A Friend of Friends website. Below is a bit of information about each of Luckie's new creations.

The Carnival of African American Genealogy

A blog carnival comes together when a number of bloggers write about a specific theme. The Carnival of African American Genealogy is an ongoing series of African American themed blog entries which will explore African American genealogy, history and culture. The theme of the first edition of CoAAG, which debuted Friday, March 19, was Restore My Name - Slave records and Genealogy Research. It was a great success, 35 geneabloggers responded with heartfelt entries, and shared many new records.

A Friend of Friends Website

The website A Friend of Friends is where the records shared for the Carnival of African American Genealogy will reside. Luckie Daniels and Sandra Taliafero, Co-Conductors of the website, will continue to gather records for the website, and will continue to post records shared by Afof readers and CoAAG carnival participants.

As an all-volunteer organization, Lowcountry Africana is blessed by those who come and bring stones to this pile, and sad when other pursuits take them away.

What Luckie brought to Lowcountry Africana will be enduring - her enthusiasm, heart and soul in the quest to restore the legacies of the Ancestors will abide with us. We are forever grateful to Luckie for bringing such magic to Lowcountry Africana, and look forward to contributing to the Carnival of African American Genealogy and the A Friend of Friends website.

There is so much work to be done to restore the legacy of the Ancestors and the more places records appear on the Internet, the better the chances that researchers will find them. We are sad for Luckie's departure but happy that the Carnival of African American Genealogy and the A Friend of Friends website are born!

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March 19, 2010 Posted by robin in GA Ancestors

CoAAG 1st Edition Arrives In Town!

I am thrilled to announce the arrival of our new genealogy carnival -- the Carnival of African-American Genealogy (CoAAG) and so excited to host its 1st Edition -- Restore My Name Slave Records & Genealogy Research!

The show of support from the genea-community has been nothing short of AMAZING!

CoAAG's 1st Edition features 35 submissions from a diverse group of contributors! Represented in this historic Carnival offering are contributions from descendants of slaves, slave owners and free-men. We are Yankees and Southerners alike, seasoned GeneaBloggers and Newbies to the fold!

We're a blended community of descendants who have made the choice to heal history, rather than hide from it. I cannot say it enough how very proud of us I am.

With the arrival of CoAAG, we have made HISTORY my Friends! Never before has there been an open dialogue and exchange of slave data between descendants from both sides of slavery's history. We're breaking new ground for sure!

Thank you for supporting the Carnival of African-American Genealogy and if you missed this opportunity no worries, CoAAG will continue to roll into town every month moving forward on the 19th, so mark your calendars!

There is no better time to join the genea-discussion than NOW!

We are the change!:-)

Luckie Daniels, Host
1st Edition of the Carnival of African-American Genealogy

Tags: CoAAG

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March 13, 2010 Posted by admin in LCA Main Blog

Guest Blogger: Bill Grimke-Drayton, Descendant of the Slaveholding Drayton Family in America and Barbados

African American Genealogy: Guest Blogger: Bill Grimke-Drayton, Descendant of the Slaveholding Drayton Family in America and Barbados

This blog is the first of our posts for the Carnival of African American Genealogy. A blog carnival comes together when a number of bloggers write about a specific theme. The Carnival of African American Genealogy is an ongoing series of African American themed blog entries which will result in many new published records and much dialogue between descendants of slaveholders and those they enslaved.

The theme of this carnival is Restore My Name: Slave Records and Genealogy Research. We are honored to welcome guest blogger Bill Grimke Drayton for this first carnival. This first carnival is hosted by Luckie Daniels from Our Georgia Roots and Our Alabama Roots.

Bill Grimke-Drayton is a direct descendant of the slaveholding Drayton family. The Drayton family had plantations and held slaves in Barbados, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia and Texas.

Above: Bill Grimke-Drayton, 2006

Trip to Drayton Hall Plantation

Charleston, SC

Bill knew that his family was involved in rice cultivation in America, and that his family held many hundreds of slaves over time. In 2006, he made an emotional journey to Charleston, to rediscover and confront his family's history. After visiting Drayton Hall, the Drayton family's ancestral home in Charleston, South Carolina, Bill immersed himself in coming to terms with his family's slaveholding history.

To learn more about Bill Grimke-Drayton's reconciliation efforts, please visit his website Grimke-Drayton: From Slavery to Reconciliation.

Here, Bill shares his candid response to the questions posed by the Carnival of African American Genealogy.

Question: What responsibilities are involved on the part of the researcher when locating names of slaves in a record?

Bill Grimke-Drayton: It is important that he or she sees whether others have been on genealogical message boards who have access to family oral histories. In most cases the oral histories will be the only record available. I have a case in point where through Ancestry.com I am now in contact with another researcher whose named ancestor was a slave on one of our own family plantations. From results of a DNA test the researcher has discovered his African roots.

Question: Does it matter if the record(s) are related to your ancestral lines or not?

Bill Grimke-Drayton: No! I have been engaged in documenting the family trees with copies of censuses etc of African American families with the same surname as me. It has been a fascinating journey and I have found possible links to the family plantations, although this has been difficult to prove due to so-called "watershed" year of 1870, when before this year we have records mostly of slaves with only their first name. More and more people are keen to find their roots - even back to the plantations, because that may enable them to go even further back to Africa. This is where DNA results become absolutely critical.

Question: As a descendant of slave owners, have you ever been pressured by family not to discuss or post about records containing slave names?

Bill Grimke-Drayton: No! I'm even collaborating with a distant cousin who is a professional genealogist. Through African American clients, she has become aware of the personal nature of slavery as it effects individuals.

Please visit Bill's website Grimke-Drayton: From Slavery to Reconciliation to learn more about his efforts to share, and come to terms with, his family's slaveholding past.

To learn more about the Carnival of African American Genealogy, you can visit the Our Georgia Roots website by Luckie Daniels.

Tags: CoAAG, drayton, grimke

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March 13, 2010 Posted by admin in LCA Main Blog

Why Didn't I Know My Family Held Slaves?

Hey everyone, I'm Toni Carrier, founder of Lowcountry Africana, the USF Africana Heritage Project and Afriquest.

I'm blogging today about my research and addressing the questions of the first Carnival of African American Genealogy.

The Carnival of African American Genealogy is an ongoing series of African American themed carnivals which will result in many new published records and much dialogue between descendants of slaveholders and those they enslaved.

The theme of this carnival is Restore My Name: Slave Records and Genealogy Research. The carnival is hosted by Luckie Daniels from Our Georgia Roots and Our Alabama Roots.

My Family's History

I am a descendant of slaveholers in Copiah County, Mississippi (George Washington Furr), but I never knew this until I had been doing this research for many years. I wonder why this is so.

The purpose of our work at Lowcountry Africana is to find the records that restore the legacy that African American ancestors left to this generation we live in. We have three websites dedicated to African American genealogy. We have been doing this research for eleven years.

One night when I was talking to my mother, probably four years into this research, she said something that took me totally by surprise: she mentioned Daddy Furr's slaves.

I was stunned, I said "Daddy Furr held slaves?" And she said "Oh yes, Daddy Furr had slaves."

How could this be, four years after my mother knew what I do, that she told me our family held slaves?

How many conversations had I had with mother yet she did not mention this, ever?

Why?

I don't know.

Why did she not tell me this long before she did? We had been talking about my work for four years.

Why Didn't I Know My Family Held Slaves?

I just don't know.

I'm still at a loss to explain it but my guess is that it has been something that some slaveholding families did not discuss. I'm still baffled by this, is it cultural? Were my ancestors told not to discuss slavery?

I don't know. But I do know it is something that we should explore and question.

Toni

Tags: CoAAG

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March 12, 2010 Posted by admin in LCA Main Blog

Free African American Genealogy Webinar by Tony Burroughs to be Archived on Ancestry.com for Viewing at Any Time

Renowned genealogist Tony Burroughs presented the wisdom-filled webinar "Avoid Traps in African American Genealogy" tonight on Ancestry.com. The webinar focused on common pitfalls that can hinder your search for African American ancestors. The webinar will be archived within the next few days and will remain free for viewing at any time in the future - you don't have to be an Ancestry.com subscriber to view it.

Among the genealogy traps discussed:

Accepting Information in Census Records as Gospel: We must expect variation in Census records for any given family over time: variations in spelling, dates of birth, birthplace. To understand why, we must understand the Census itself - you can learn more by viewing the webinar broadcast, and also in the article Are census records reliable for genealogy research? by Michael Hait, Coordinator of the Lowcountry Africana Resource Library.

Only Tracing Direct Ancestors: So often the information for an individual ancestor we seek can be found in records of their family members. For example, only researching your grandfather, great-grandfather and his parents can cause you to overlook valuable information in the records of their children, or their siblings. It is important to gather records for all of your ancestors you have identified. Michael Hait has written an excellent article on this topic in the African American Genealogy Examiner: Using 'clusters' to track your ancestors through multiple census years.

These and many more pitfalls were addressed in Tony Burroughs' webinar. To watch for the archived webinar which should be available in the next few days, please visit Ancestry.com's Webinars: Online Seminars page at http://learn.ancestry.com/LearnMore/Webinars.aspx.

While you wait for the archived version of the webinar, we invite you to visit Michael Hait's Resource Library on Lowcountry Africana! Be sure to follow the links to his archived African American Genealogy Examiner articles for in-depth articles on sound research methods for African American genealogy.

Tags: webinars

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March 9, 2010 Posted by robin in GA Ancestors

The Science of A Slave Auction: The Weeping Time 1859

The Science of A Slave Auction ~ The Weeping Time 1859

In my many years of researching slave ancestry, I've heard things spoken in respect to the U.S. Chattel System that literally rendered me speechless.

I've heard of slavery being referred to as the salvation of African people. I've been told that for the most part, "it" wasn't that bad. On more than one occasion, I've been asked by some [very] confused person, why black people can't just get over "it" and instructed to look at the Jewish community as an example of formerly oppressed people who have "moved on".

I have yet to be persuaded that Slavery was anything but a cruel, violent atrocity of an unimaginable evil.

If there remains ANY doubt in you, as to the truly evil nature of slavery, I invite you to take a moment to read the 1859 New York Tribune report of The Weeping Time -- the largest reported slave auction in U.S. History, when Pierce Butler (Pierce and Frances Kemble Butler, pictured foreground left) sold 436 men, women and children at Savannah's Ten Broeck Race Course.

Take your time -- read the first-hand account thoroughly. Hover over the names and stories and then imagine they represent your mother, father, siblings and family.

Indeed, it was and remains a time for weeping.

Lest we forget... The Weeping Time.

Luckie.

[Image Source: DeGraft-Hanson, Kwesi | Pierce Butler (JPG) | Southern Spaces, published 18 Feb 2010.]

Tags: slave auction, weeping time

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March 9, 2010 Posted by admin in LCA Main Blog

Free Webinar from Tony Burroughs: "Avoid Traps in African American Genealogy" Thurs., March 11, 8 p.m.

Ancestry.com will present a free webinar this Thursday, March 11 by renowned genealogist Tony Burroughs. The webinar "Avoid Traps in African American Genealogy" will air at 8 p.m. on Thursday. The seminar will focus on common mistakes that can hinder your search for African American ancestors.

The free webinar will also be archived and available to view in the future. Whether you are a beginning your family research or have been at it for some time, this free webinar will help you sharpen your genealogy skills!

To pre-register or learn more, please visit the Ancestry Webinars page.

Tags: webinars

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March 9, 2010 Posted by admin in Florida Ancestors

Book review: Nicknames Past and Present, by Christine Rose

Do you have a nickname that you use instead of your given name? You may even sign documents using your nickname, rather than your given name.

Well, our ancestors did the same thing. Let's say Dorothy Smith went as Dottie Smith back in 1885. She signed official papers that way and gave her name in the census as Dottie.

One day, Dottie's great-great-granddaughter is searching for her in the census and can't find Dottie, though lots of Dorothy's seem to fit the other data she has.

And, while Ancestry.com does search for nicknames, they don't catch all of them.

If you've ever had this experience, Nicknames Past and Present will help you. It's a simple book that lists names and their nicknames. I found a lot of nicknames that I would never have traced back to the given name listed.

The book is available on Amazon for $9.95: Nicknames Past and Present, by Christine Rose

Tags: Book Reviews

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March 2, 2010 Posted by admin in Florida Ancestors

Technology Tuesday: Publishing your family history

If you've been researching your family for a while, you probably want to share what you've found with your cousins. Well, you don't need a book publisher and publishing your family history doesn't have to be expensive. There are services on the Web that can publish on demand for free. All you have to do is upload your book! One such website is Lulu.

Using Lulu, you can publish your family history in print or as an e-book for free. All you have to do is convert your book into PDF format (Lulu offers a guide on how to do it) and upload. You can have the books delivered to you or sell your book through Lulu. Lulu also offers paid services such as editing, design, marketing and retail distribution.

Don't forget to be a good steward of your family genealogy and cite your sources!

Lulu is at http://www.lulu.com

Happy publishing!

Tags: lulu, publishing, resources

Archive for March 2010